When Brenda Herring was in college, she thought about joining the United States Air Force because of her family. Her brothers Larry and Pervis served as active-duty soldiers, and one brother, Terry, was an active-duty Marine.
“I had a sister-in-law who served and several nieces and nephews who gave military service a try,” Herring said. “I joined the Air National Guard after hearing story after story of how it was a great part-time career from the guy I was dating, now my spouse.”
In May, Herring, superintendent of the 188th Medical Group, retired as a chief master sergeant from the Arkansas Air National Guard. She said she decided to retire after her unit didn’t get the assignment to deploy.
“Since I’m a Drill Status Guardsman, or DSG, the only change for me is that I will have additional weekends to do nothing or plan other events,” she said, joking. Training is mandatory one weekend a month and an additional 15 days per year for traditional guardsmen.
Her husband, Brent, retired from the Arkansas Air National Guard in 2009 after serving 24 years. Herring and her husband met in 1989 while working at the Human Development Center in Conway. The two married in 1993.
She said he was a big reason she decided to join the National Guard.
“When I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be in the military, and I wanted to be a secretary, and when we met and started dating, the National Guard sounded like something exciting to join,” Herring said. “He supported my 28 years, eight months and 11 days because it is a great organization to be a part of.
“He had been in about six years when we started dating, and he started recruiting me to go talk to a recruiter and join. I’m glad he did.”
Herring graduated from Dumas High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway in 1985. She enlisted in the Air National Guard in August 1991.
She said one of the things she enjoyed about being in the military was the opportunity to attend various leadership academies and schools.
“At these schools, I got to network with [active-duty] Air Force personnel, from whom I learned many best practices for many scenarios,” Herring said. “I got some great mentoring from this 28-year career and some good friends that I would not trade for anything.
“My Air Force specialty was information management, where I got to help airmen learn to manage information, from emails to working documents.”
In a press release from the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, Col. Brett Fehrle, the 188th Medical Group commander, said Herring “did an outstanding job leading and empowering airmen to engage in professional and personal development.”
“She was one of my most key advisers on health concerns of our individuals, unit esprit de corps, conduct and discipline, and recognition of the members for awards,” he said. “Chief Herring was an outstanding chief and will be greatly missed by all of us at the 188th MDG.”
Herring said that as African-American woman in the service, some of her biggest challenges came when she got in the senior ranks.
“I was always ready when it was time to get a promotion, even if I wasn’t in a position that came with a higher grade,” she said. “If there was a hint that a supervisor position was coming available, I would push harder to stand out because I had seen, over and over, those positions given to some male who didn’t do the job quite as well but had more years.”
She said it is important for young officers to research and talk to others when “you need to fight for a cause, where you feel like you’ve been wronged.”
“Being an African-American woman and meeting challenges, I learned to reach out to my mentors for advice; research what others have done in similar situations; and adapt to things to help me overcome challenges,” Herring said.
She said one of the biggest changes she has seen in the Air National Guard has been the increase of women in leadership roles.
“One of my most memorable moments was being promoted to the highest enlisted grade of chief master sergeant in 2014,” she said.
Herring has worked for UCA since 2006, minus a short time when she was deployed stateside, and currently works at UCA as assistant to the director of the School of Communication.
Donna Lampkin Stephens, director of the School of Communication, said Herring is the glue that holds the school together.
“Four years ago, we became a school from three different departments,” Stephens said. “Brenda was the administrative assistant for the former department of writing, and she has become as valued by everyone else in the school as she always was by her writing colleagues.”
Stephens said that in 2019, Herring was nominated for and won UCA’s Classified Employee of the Year title.
“It was a collaborative effort, and we collected testimonials for her from a number of [School of Communication] faculty,” Stephens said. “Several of those mentioned her military service as an example of her teamwork and dedication.
“We all celebrated when
she won.”
Stephens said Herring is completely organized and no-nonsense, and the faculty loves her. Stephens said she can’t emphasize enough how valuable Herring was to her as Stephens transitioned from faculty to interim director in 2018.
“We are incredibly lucky to have her, and I am honored to be her friend,” Stephens said.
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.